Attorney General Holder Explains Fast & Furious to Congressman Issa.
ISSA: So, Mr. Holder, Fast &
Furious was designed to do exactly what?
HOLDER: Fast
& Furious was designed to identify major gun traffickers supplying weapons
to Mexican drug cartels.
ISSA: And how was this done?
HOLDER: The
government was going to allow straw purchasers to buy guns in the US and track
them into Mexico.
ISSA: So the government set up a gun
store near the Mexican border designed to lure straw buyers?
HOLDER: No.
We pressured existing gun stores to sell
weapons to straw purchasers.
ISSA: So you embedded devices into
these guns to allow them to be traced?
HOLDER: No. But we knew the serial numbers of the guns.
ISSA: And then you followed to straw
purchasers to the Mexican border?
HOLDER: We
tried, but lost track of them. They were
really sneaky that way.
ISSA: So then you called the Mexican
police?
HOLDER: No.
But we knew the serial numbers on the guns.
ISSA: How
would that help you identify the major gun runners?
HOLDER: I
didn’t say the plan was perfect.
ISSA: So how were the guns recovered?
HOLDER: We
picked them up at the scene of shootings if the killers left them behind.
ISSA: And after allowing thousands of
guns cross the border and hundreds of people get killed by them, including a Border
Patrol agent, did that help you identify the major gun traffickers to Mexican
drug cartels.
HOLDER: No. But it did prove that if we allowed thousands
of guns to be shipped to Mexican drug cartels, the serial numbers on the guns
would prove that they were bought in the US.
ISSA: But how did that help you
achieve your original objective of identifying major gun traffickers?
HOLDER: Well,
to tell the truth Mr. Issa, it didn’t.
But we have the guns and the serial numbers and the crime reports so we
can move on to stricter gun control in the US so that the only way the Mexican
drug cartels can get more American guns is if we ship them. I’m thinking Fast & Furious,
the sequel.